System for managing access control

ABSTRACT

A content distribution system ( 300 ) has access control according to a predefined data access format. The system has organizations ( 32 ) for providing content data and related meta data on record carriers ( 34 ), and a rendering device ( 39 ), and applications for manipulating the content data and related meta data. An access policy for the organization is set according to the predefined data access format, and has access parameters for controlling access to resources of the rendering device and to said content data and related meta data. An organization application ( 35 ) complying with the access policy of the organization for accessing said data is executed while accessing the resources of the rendering device according to the access policy of the organization. According to the invention a user access policy is maintained that restricts, for the organization application, access to the resources of the rendering device relative to the access policy of the organization. The user access policy is adjusted based on additional trust data for selectively allowing the organization application to access the resources according to the access policy of the organization. Hence the user controls the access that applications have to resources of the rendering device.

The invention relates to a method for managing access control in acontent distribution system having access control according to apredefined data access format, the system comprising at least oneorganization for providing content data and related meta data, arendering device for rendering the content data and related meta dataand executing the application, and at least one application formanipulating the content data and related meta data, which methodcomprises the steps of setting an access policy for the organizationaccording to the predefined data access format, the access policycomprising access parameters for controlling access to resources of therendering device and to said content data and related meta data,providing at least one organization application complying with theaccess policy of the organization, providing content data and relatedmeta data complying with the access policy of the respectiveorganization, for enabling the rendering device to execute theorganization application while accessing the resources of the renderingdevice according to the access policy of the organization.

The invention further relates to a computer program product and arendering device for use in the system. The rendering device comprisesrendering means for generating a media signal for rendering the data andrelated meta data, and access control means for executing theorganization application while accessing the resources of the renderingdevice according to the access policy of the organization.

The invention relates to the field of providing multimedia andinteractive applications in a user device by organizations like moviestudios. The applications may include rendering images, backgroundvideo, games, gathering and storing viewing data and text reviews, etc.Commonly such interactive applications are based on stored content dataand related meta data according to a predefined format. In particularthe invention relates to controlling access to such proprietary datathat is usually provided and owned by an organization.

Document US2004/0148514 describes a rendering system, including astorage medium and reproducing method for rendering stored data ofinteractive applications on a display, for example video. A readingdevice, such as an optical disc player, retrieves stored informationfrom a record carrier, for example an audio/video (AV) stream includingdigitally compressed video data. A software publisher (or organization)may provide the content data (for example audio/video) and related metadata (for example playback control data, background text and images,interactive applications, etc). The document describes various ways ofcontrolling access to such data, and implementing an access policyaccording to a predefined access control format. For examplecryptographic methods are described for protecting and controllingaccess to such data. Digital certificates may be issued by acertification authority. The access policy is particularly suited tocontrol access to the proprietary data by applications provided by therespective publisher or organization. Also the access policy may controlaccess to resources in the rendering device, for example via permissionsto access to local storage capacity, a network connection or specificsystem data.

The access policy according to the known system is established based onthe assumption that the applications, it means the organization, behavedecently, because the organization has to comply with the access controlformat. Hence the access control system provides adequate control ofapplications that access resources or proprietary data for applicationsprovided by the organization, or distributed under the control of therespective organization. However, there is a problem when applications,although originating from a sources that complies with all requirementsof the access policy, are misbehaving.

It is an object of the invention to provide an access control systemthat allows further control of applications that comply with anestablished access policy in an access controlled environment.

For this purpose, according to a first aspect of the invention, themethod, as described in the opening paragraph, further comprises thesteps of maintaining a user access policy that restricts, for theorganization application, access to the resources of the renderingdevice relative to the access policy of the organization, and adjustingthe user access policy for the organization based on additional trustdata for selectively allowing the organization application to access theresources according to the access policy of the organization.

For this purpose, according to a second aspect of the invention, in thedevice as described in the opening paragraph, the access control meansare arranged for maintaining a user access policy that restricts, forthe organization application, access to the resources of the renderingdevice relative to the access policy of the organization, and adjustingthe user access policy for the organization based on additional trustdata for selectively allowing the organization application to access theresources according to the access policy of the organization.

A user access policy is created for the user of a rendering device. Theuser access policy is a set of rules and parameters that furtherrestrict access to resources of the rendering device of the user. Theadditional trust data may be provided in any suitable way, for exampleactively by the user, from external sources selected by the user,automatically, via the internet, etc. Hence the restrictions of the useraccess policy are applied for affecting the already accepted andcertified access policy applicable for the respective organizationapplication.

The measures have the effect that in the rendering system the useraccess policy is applied to provide user control of organizationapplications that are already subject to the access policy of therespective organization, which complies with the access control format.Advantageously, the user has the opportunity to restrict the access toresources in the rendering device if the user does not want such access,although such access is allowable according to the access policy.

The invention is also based on the following recognition. Access controlformats for controlling access to proprietary data for the proprietoronly, or for specific and predefined third parties, is known, forexample from US2004/0148514 as discussed above. Also further systems fordistributing multimedia content, such as the BD format (Blu-Ray OpticalDisc; a description is available on http://www.blu-raydisc.com, andspecifically on http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Section-13628/Index.html,while a Section-13890 contains a specification of the Java programminglanguage for BD), and the MHP standard (Digital video BroadcastingMultimedia Home Platform Specification 1.0.3, ETSI TS 101 812V1.3.1-2003-06, available from the ETSI website http://www.etsi.org)provide further examples of access control policies. For example the MHPstandard allows permissions to be granted to access files orsubdirectories, or to use other resources available in a device. Inthese examples, the access policies are enforced cryptographically.

However the inventors have seen that there is a need for further controlby the user. For example, once an access policy has been established foran organization, permissions may be used by the organization also if itis no longer to be trusted. Also organizations may use resources thatare acceptable to some users, but not acceptable to other users. Thesolution provided is that the user access policy is established foradditionally controlling access to resources of the rendering device.Some organizations can not be trusted as well as others. The keys ofsome organization that recently went out of business may still be usedto put out content and applications governed by that organization'sgeneral access control policy. This content is for obvious reasons ofdubious trustworthiness. Or an organization may just be unknown to theuser because he is not used to buying movies from this organization. Theinventors have seen that the situation is different from the ‘untrustedwebsite’ issue on the internet, and can not be solved with the samemeasures as provided by internet browsers. Internet browsers classifysites based on classes (intranet, trusted, restricted), and for eachclass a level of trust is defined. In the content distribution system anapplication would be equivalent with a website. But applications cannotbe grouped per class like the websites. The inventors have seen thatapplications can be controlled by providing the user access policy persource, it means per organization. What is acceptable for internetbrowsers, it means each site is suspect and cannot operate till approvedby the user, is not acceptable for multimedia data on a record carrierthat has been bought by the user, which record carrier should just play.Advantageously the user access policy provides protection againstorganization applications of the not trusted, dubious organization,while allowing rendering of distributed content data.

In an embodiment the method comprises maintaining a set of trust data ata remote database entity, and retrieving trust data from the set for theadjusting of the user access policy, and in a particular case the methodfurther comprising accessing the remote database entity via a network.The trust data may be transferred via any suitable carrier, for examplevia a record carrier, or via the network. Hence a further party thatruns the database entity effectively sets the trust data that areapplied in the rendering device for setting the user access policy. Thishas the advantage that the user may once select such a remote databaseentity for maintaining an up to date set of trust data according to thepreferences of the user. Subsequently the user access policy is setautomatically based on said retrieved trust data.

In an embodiment of the method the user access policy comprisesinitially setting a non-trusted level for organizations that are notknown in the rendering device, the non-trusted level not allowing theorganization application to access said resources. This has theadvantage that applications of unknown sources cannot get access toresources unless the user has positively allowed such access by settinga user access policy.

Further preferred embodiments of the device and method according to theinvention are given in the appended claims, disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from andelucidated further with reference to the embodiments described by way ofexample in the following description and with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 shows a storage medium,

FIG. 2 shows a rendering device,

FIG. 3 shows a content distribution system having access controlaccording to a predefined data access format, and

FIG. 4 shows a file access control mechanism.

Corresponding elements in different Figures have identical referencenumerals.

FIG. 1 shows a disc-shaped record carrier 11 having a track 9 and acentral hole 10. The track 9, being the position of the series of (tobe) recorded marks representing information, is arranged in accordancewith a spiral pattern of turns constituting substantially paralleltracks on an information layer. The record carrier may be opticallyreadable, called an optical disc. Examples of an optical disc are the CDand DVD, and the high density optical disc using a blue laser, calledBlu-ray Disc (BD). Further details about the DVD disc can be found inreference: ECMA-267: 120 mm DVD-Read-Only Disc—(1997). The informationis represented on the information layer by optically detectable marksalong the track.

The record carrier 11 is intended for carrying digital information inblocks under control of a file management system. The informationincludes real-time information to be reproduced continuously, inparticular information representing digitally encoded video like MPEG2or MPEG4.

In new optical disk standards high definition video may be combined withgraphics and applications to create an interactive viewing experience,for example video may be combined with interactive applications toenhance the viewing experience. Typically these applications allow theuser to control playback of the video content, get more information onthe content being watched or give access to new services. For newservices the user devices may have a communication interface forestablishing a connection to a network such as the internet. Throughthis connection the application can, for example, provide e-commerce,gambling and information services on a display device like a television(TV). Also a ‘local’ non-volatile storage medium like a hard-disk drive(HDD) may be available in the player of each recording medium to storefor example the downloaded information.

The storage medium is carrying content information and related meta dataaccording to a predefined data storage format, for example video andrelated data including virtual objects such as buttons, graphic elementsor animations, background information on the content information,additional games or interactive tools, etc. The content data and relatedmeta data are provided by a so-called organization, it means the contentprovider and/or owner. For the organization the data is calledproprietary, it means under control and/or in possession of therespective organization. The predefined data storage format allows datafor example on HDD and services such as the communication interface tobe access controlled, for example by using cryptographic methods, to beavailable only according to the copyright provisions applicable. The setof rules and parameters created for the specific organization, accordingto a predefined data access format, is called an access policy.

FIG. 2 shows a rendering device for reproducing real-time informationand active information. The device has read means, which include a head22 for retrieving the stored information, and scanning means forscanning a track of the record carrier 11 as described above. Thescanning means include a drive unit 21 for rotating the record carrier11, a positioning unit 25 for coarsely positioning the head 22 in theradial direction on the track, and a control unit 20. The head 22comprises an optical system of a known type for generating a radiationbeam 24 guided through optical elements focused to a radiation spot 23on a track of the information layer of the record carrier. The radiationbeam 24 is generated by a radiation source, for example a laser diode.The head further comprises (not shown) a focusing actuator for movingthe focus of the radiation beam 24 along the optical axis of said beamand a tracking actuator for fine positioning the spot 23 in a radialdirection on the center of the track.

The control unit 20 is connected via control lines 26, for example asystem bus, to other units that are to be controlled. The control unit20 comprises control circuitry, for example a microprocessor, a programmemory and control gates, for performing the procedures and functionsaccording to the invention as described below. The control unit 20 mayalso be implemented as a state machine in logic circuits.

For reading, the radiation reflected by the information layer isdetected by a detector of a usual type, for example a four-quadrantdiode, in the head 22 for generating a read signal and further detectorsignals including a tracking error and a focusing error signal forcontrolling said tracking and focusing actuators. The read signal isprocessed by a rendering unit 30 for rendering the stored informationand generating a display signal for displaying the stored informationand accessing virtual objects in the stored information on a displaylike a monitor or TV set. The displaying includes displaying andexecuting the virtual objects, for example buttons invoking commands inan interactive user interface or animations during reproducing real-timeinformation.

According to the invention the device has an access control unit 31 forexecuting applications while accessing resources 41 of the renderingdevice according to the access policy of the organization. The resources41 include any feature of the rendering device that may be affected orused by an application, and may include a network connection, forexample a modem for connecting to the internet; local storage such as ahard disk or solid state memory for storing application data; varioussystem parameters or device parameters such as parental control settingsor sound level; or personal user data, such as user names, family dataor credit card data.

Applications are functions made available on the rendering device,usually by an organization via software. Applications may also beprovided by different sources, for example the manufacturer of therendering device, or a general purpose type of application by anindependent software company. The specific function of the accesscontrol unit 31 according to the invention is maintaining a user accesspolicy that initially restricts, for the organization application,access to the resources 41 of the rendering device relative to theaccess policy of the organization, and adjusting the user access policyfor the organization based on additional trust data for selectivelyallowing the organization application to access the resources accordingto the access policy of the organization, which is elucidated furtherbelow with reference to FIG. 3.

It is noted that the applications, parts of applications or relatedfunctions may be implemented as resident functions in the access controlunit. Alternatively, the applications may be provided on the recordcarrier, via a further information carrier or via a network, for examplethe internet. The access control unit 31 may be implemented as asoftware function in the control unit 20, as part of the rendering unit30, or as a separate unit.

The device may be arranged for writing information on a record carrier11 of a type, which is writable or re-writable, for example DVD+RW orBD-RE. The device then comprises a write unit 29 for processing theinput information to generate a write signal to drive the head 22.

In an embodiment of the rendering system the rendering device mayretrieve content data and related meta data from a remote source. Therendering device at the user location may be connectable via a networkto a server. The user device, for example a set top box (STB), has areceiver for receiving broadcast data such as video. The user device hasa network interface, for example a modem, for connecting the device to anetwork, for example the internet. A server also has a network interfacefor connecting the server device to the network. It is noted that userdevices that are connectible to a network also include multimediadevices (for example a standardized multimedia home platform MHP),enhanced mobile phones, personal digital assistants, etc.

FIG. 3 shows a content distribution system having access controlaccording to a predefined data access format. The system 300 has a firstorganization 32 for providing first content data and related meta data,a second organization 33 for providing second content data and relatedmeta data. For distributing content the system further has a firstrecord carrier 34 for carrying the first proprietary data, and a secondrecord carrier 36 for carrying the second proprietary data.Alternatively, the proprietary data or a part of it, such as the relatedmeta data, may be distributed by a different channel, for example anetwork such as the internet. The first organization 32 may also provideat least one organization application 35 for manipulating the firstcontent data and related meta data. The second organization 33 may alsoprovide at least one organization application 37 for manipulating thecorresponding second data.

A rendering device 39 is provided for rendering the content data andrelated meta data from the record carriers, as indicated by the arrows34′, 36′ and 38′. The rendering device may be coupled to a display 40,and to a network 43 via a network interface. In an embodiment, therendering device 39 receives the content data and/or the related metadata via the network 43. The applications are effectively executed inthe rendering device. The applications may be initially included in therendering device, or may be distributed separately, for example via thenetwork, and stored in the rendering device. It is noted that the recordcarriers are for carrying the content data and related meta data, butmay also carry the applications.

Each organization has a respective access policy, it means a set ofparameters and rules according to the predefined access control format.The first organization application 35 is able to access the firstproprietary data according to a first access policy, and the secondorganization application 37 is able to access the second proprietarydata. The access policy for an application is set partially by thesystem (for example application 35 cannot access the data on ‘local’storage associated with application 37), and partially by theorganization itself (for example organization 32 allows application 37of organization 33 to access the data associated with application 34).Only licensed organizations have the cryptographic keys to create thelatter policies.

It is noted that the system can be extended by further organizationseach having respective proprietary data, and corresponding furtherrecord carriers 38 and/or applications, while each organization willusually have a number of sets of proprietary data (for example movieproductions and corresponding extras for users), while each set(production) is multiplied commercially on a number of record carriers.

The access control unit 31 is additionally arranged for setting a useraccess policy, for example based on user input via a user interface. Theuser access policy restricts access to the resources 41 of the renderingdevice. It is noted that the access policy of the organization isprimarily enforced for controlling the access to the resources, asdefined in the data access format. The user access policy furtheraffects and restricts said access according to the preferences of theuser. The user may explicitly set the preferences to a desired value, orsuch settings may be set or adjusted based on trust data from externalsources. For example the manufacturer of the rendering device may setinitial preferences, usually at a safe and restricted level, which maysubsequently be changed by the user. Hence the access control unit isarranged for adjusting the user access policy based on additional trustdata, and thereby selectively allows the organization application toaccess the resources up to a maximum allowed level of access determinedaccording to the access policy of the organization.

In an embodiment the content distribution system 300 comprises a remotedatabase entity 42 for maintaining a set of trust data. The remotedatabase entity may be coupled to the rendering device via the network43, for example the internet, via a network interface 44 for connectingto a network. The database entity 42 has a database unit 45 for storingdata, which unit is arranged for maintaining a set of trust data. Themaintaining inter alia may include adapting the trust data fororganizations that are misbehaving, adding new trust data for neworganizations, using user feedback for specific organizations, etc. Onrequest of the rendering device, or automatically or periodically, thedatabase entity transfers a required subset of the trust data from theset to the rendering device via the network interface means 44.Subsequently the rendering device adjusts the user access policy for theorganization based on the trust data for selectively allowing theorganization application to access the resources according to the accesspolicy of the organization. For example the remote database entity maybe provided by the manufacturer of the rendering devices, by a consumerorganization, by a privacy awareness group, etc. The access control unit31 is arranged for retrieving trust data from the set of trust data forthe adjusting of the user access policy.

In an embodiment the additional trust data comprises a limited number oftrust levels, for example only two: completely trusted or not trusted atall. If the first level is set, the organization application gets fullaccess to the resources according to the settings of the access policyof the organization. If the second level is set, the organizationapplication gets no access at all to the resources, although thesettings of the access policy of the organization would allow suchaccess. In a further embodiment the trust levels comprise three levels,it means a fully trusted level for allowing the organization applicationto fully access to said resources according to the access policy of theorganization; a partly trusted level for allowing the organizationapplication to access a predefined subset of resources; and anon-trusted level for not allowing the organization application accessto said resources. In addition the access control unit 31 may bearranged for setting the particular access allowed in the partly trustedlevel, for example access allowed to store data, but no access to creditcard data.

In an embodiment the user access policy includes initially setting anon-trusted level for organizations that are not known in the renderingdevice 39. The non-trusted level does not allow the organizationapplication to access said resources. The access control unit 31 is setto initially block access for any application from a new, unknownorganization.

FIG. 4 shows a file access control mechanism. The Figure schematicallyshows a file system 60, having a root directory 61 and organizationsubdirectories 62 for a number of organizations. Each organization mayhave further movie subdirectories 63 for a number of movies. In eachdirectory files may be present, for example in subdirectory 63 “movie 1a” an audio video file 69 and an application file 64 called “Xlet1 a”,and in further subdirectories an application 70 called “Xlet1 b” and anapplication 71 called “Xlet3 a”. Each subdirectory or file haspermission indicators 66, for example “UNIX permissions”, that indicatethe rights to read and write for different users that access thesubdirectory. According to the data access format each application mayhave a credential 65, which is an additional amount of data (usually ina separate file) that indicates the access rights, and may containaccess parameters, for accessing proprietary information. Note thatapplication 70 (Xlet1 b) gets read-access to file 69 (A/V2, which hasgroup read access), but it is not allowed to start application 64 (Xlet1a which only has movie owner-access) as indicated by arrow 68.Application 71 (Xlet3 a) is not in the same group (Organization1) asapplication 64 (Xlet1 a) and file 64 (A/V2) so it needs a specialcredential 65, signed for example by Organization1, to get access tofile 64 (A/V2) as indicated by arrow 67.

An embodiment of the data access format as shown in FIG. 4 is based onJava and may be used in a Blu-ray Disc ROM Full Feature Mode. SuchBD-ROM players include a Java-Virtual Machine, which can run smallapplications (programs usually called Xlets). These flexible andpowerful rendering machines also have network connections and may havelocal storage in the form of a Hard Disc Drive (HDD). The content owner,it means organization, can distribute the applications together with themovie on the BD-ROM disc or via a network connection. In the standardaccess control of such system only the original application that storesany access parameters in a protected memory location (a device resourcealso called a Key Locker) can retrieve them.

The data access format according to MHP (see above reference) is asubset and extension of Java, to enable running of Java Xlets on Set-topBoxes (STB) for the purpose of browsing, interaction with A/V-data etc.When an application is loaded it is first authenticated by the system.The system subsequently treats the application as a user (based on“application_id”) on the system (similar to the Unix operating system),with a home directory, a group to which it belongs (“organization_id”).The application comes with access parameters according to the accesspolicy (called a Permission Request File), through which it requestscertain resources from the system (network access, etc.), which may begranted depending on the access policy file.

The data access format subsequently uses these features to define atwo-layered access structure to data stored on local storage of therendering device:

1. Unix-style permission rights: (or default policy) data is stored asfiles in a normal directory tree. Every file and directory is endowedwith read/write access-permissions 66 for each level (see MHP, section12.6.2.7.2):

a. application (the application that created the data)

b. organization (the applications that belong to the same organizationas the creating application).

c. world (all applications)

2. Credential-Mechanism: to override the above mechanism and providemore fine-grained access, the owner of a file(s)/directory can prepare aCredential 65, which is a (signed) statement that another application(for example from another group) can access such file(s)/directory. TheCredential 65 is contained in the Permission Request File mentionedabove. Upon loading the application, the system may decide, based on theCredential and the policy files that the application should get accessto additional files (see MHP, section 12.6.2.6). The abovedirectory/file access control mechanism may be used for a record carrierlike BD-ROM. In that case “application_id” corresponds to theapplications associated with a particular disc, and “organization_id”corresponds with an organization.

For augmenting the access control mechanism the user access policy iscreated as described above. A further example is described now. Newcontent distribution systems like the Blu Ray Disc (BD) support Javacode to enable interactive applications. The way Java is supported islargely compliant with GEM (Globally Executable MHP, see MHP reference)including the security part. As a result, the security model of BDprovides protection of the user from malignant code by signing trustedapplications. Organizations certify that the applications that theyprovide are okay. Either by signing them directly or by certifying thatthe producer of the software (who signs the software) is legitimate. Acertifying authority (CA) in turn certifies that the organizationcredentials are valid (see below).

The user access policy enables the user to make a distinction betweenorganizations when applying the security policy. Separate user accesspolicies for different organizations (selected based on an organizationidentifier, for example Organization_ID) enable unrestricted use ofresources for applications coming from trusted organizations, somewhatlimited use of resources by applications from unknown organizations andvery restricted use of resources for applications from organizationsthat are explicitly not trusted. Note that in the latter case a signedand therefore authenticated application, in other words an applicationthat should get full access according to the data access format, willnot get full access because the user does not trust its source. The useraccess policy in essence revert such applications to unauthenticatedapplications.

By assigning a level of trust per organization the user access policyautomatically assigns the appropriate level of trust for a newapplication provided it is from an organization for which the userpolicy has been set. By assigning the lowest level of trust for any neworganization all organizations the user policy is set. The user willhave the opportunity to upgrade the level of trust for an organizationand thereby automatically for all applications of that organization.This way the amount of work for the user in managing trust levels isvery limited. Advantageously, this increased convenience of users doesnot in any way reduce the security of the platform.

Per organization there are certain classification options. In anembodiment a website is created that supports classifying organizations.The website maintains a list of trust data for a large number oforganizations. Any dubious organization would be identified as such onthe list, as would any trusted organization. Thus the process ofclassification in the rendering device can be fully automated bycontacting such website via the internet, without compromising onsecurity. Note that it is not the intention to block a disc from adubious organization, just to limit access to certain key recourses(like credit card number or the network connection). Specificapplications from specific organizations will have specified levels ofaccess based on the classification of the organization.

A data access format may include the following. Applications to beauthenticated are hashed and the hash of the master hash file is signedby encrypting it with the private key of the organization. The signatureis put on the disc. The associated public key is contained in anorganization certificate, which is also put on disc. The hash of theorganization certificate is signed by the Certifying Authority (CA) ofwhich the player has the public key. This signature is also put on thedisc. This can be expressed as follows:

Signature_(application) = {hash(hash(application_code))}_(key_private_organization)Certificate_(organization) ≈ (key_public_organization)Signature_(organization_certificate) = {hash(Certificate_(organization))}_(key_private_CA)To authenticate Java code in an organization application, the renderingdevice uses the public key of the CA to verify the signature of theorganization certificate. If this checks out the public key of theorganization from the organization certificate is used to verify thesignature of the application.

There maybe another level of trust in that the producer of the Java codeuses its own set of keys to certify the application. In that case theorganization needs to sign the certificate of the producer. This can beexpressed as follows:

Signature_(application) = {hash(hash(application_code))}_(key_private_producer)Certificate_(producer) ≈ (key_public_producer)Signature_(producer_certificate) = {hash(Certificate_(producer))}_(key_private_organization)Certificate_(organization) ≈ (key_public_organization)Signature_(organization_certificate) = {hash(Certificate_(organization))}_(key_private_CA)

It is noted that the access control unit 31 that provides the useraccess policy functions as described above, may be provided by acomputer program product for executing in a user device. The program isoperative to cause a processor of the standard user device, for examplea laptop computer, to perform the steps of maintaining and adjusting theuser access policy. The program may be distributed as a softwareplug-in, for example via internet, on a record carrier, or send via abroadcast together with any other applications and audio/video content.When loaded the software controls the applications so these access theresources of the device according to the user access policy.

Although the invention has been explained mainly by embodiments based onoptical discs other storage media or distribution systems fordistributing the content and/or meta data may be applied also. Notehowever that the invention particularly relates to security policieswith respect to data provided by an organization on a user's renderingdevice. Each organization may be granted an amount of local storage tostore data relevant for that organization, and further access toresources. The access policy for that data is that only applicationsthat are verified to be from that organization have access to that data.For example permissions may be granted using the Java language. Anapplication has a permission request file that is compared to theparameter files of the access policy. Previously it was not possible forthe user to block dubious or unknown organizations from gaining fullaccess to system resources provided they have a certificate that isvalid according to the certifying authority (CA) in place. With theinvention, if a requested permission is allowed by the access policy,the respective resource is released to the application, only if also theuser access policy allows such access.

It is noted, that in this document the word ‘comprising’ does notexclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed andthe word ‘a’ or ‘an’ preceding an element does not exclude the presenceof a plurality of such elements, that any reference signs do not limitthe scope of the claims, that the invention may be implemented by meansof both hardware and software, and that several ‘means’ may berepresented by the same item of hardware. Further, the scope of theinvention is not limited to the embodiments, and the invention lies ineach and every novel feature or combination of features described above.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for managing access control in acontent distribution system, the system comprising: an organization forproviding content data and related meta data; and a rendering device forrendering the content data and related meta data and executing anapplication, said rendering device having controlled access to resourcesfor supplying necessary information for the rendering device to effectperformance of predetermined rendering operations; said methodcomprising the steps of: setting an access policy required to be adheredto by the organization according to a predefined data access format, theaccess policy comprising access parameters for controlling access by therendering device to said necessary information; providing, in accordancewith an access policy actually adhered to by the organization, contentdata and related meta data and an organization application formanipulating the content data and related meta data, said access policyactually adhered to providing authorization for the rendering device toaccess said necessary information; regardless of whether the accesspolicy actually adhered to by the organization complies with the accesspolicy required to be adhered to, setting a user policy for therendering device that, while executing the organization application,further restricts access by the rendering device to said necessaryinformation relative to the access policy actually adhered to by theorganization; and adjusting the user access policy, based on trust dataapplicable to the organization, for selectively determining what, ifany, of said necessary information will be made accessible to therendering device.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein themethod further comprises the steps of: maintaining a set of trust dataat a remote database entity; and retrieving the trust data applicable tothe organization from the set of trust data.
 3. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the trust data comprises a limited number of trustlevels.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the trust levelscomprise: a fully trusted level allowing the organization applicationfull access to said resources of the rendering device, subject to theaccess policy for the organization; a partly trusted level allowing theorganization application to access a predefined subset of said resourcesof the rendering device; and a non-trusted level not allowing theorganization application access to said resources.
 5. The method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the user access policy comprises initiallysetting a non-trusted level for organizations that are not known in therendering device, the non-trusted level not allowing the organizationapplication to access said resources subject to said adjusting the useraccess policy.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein theresources of the rendering device comprise at least one of: a networkconnection; memory locations for storing data; system or deviceparameters; and personal user data, such as a name or credit card data.7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having storedthereon a computer program for causing a processor to manage accesscontrol in a content distribution system, the system comprising: anorganization for providing content data and related meta data; and arendering device for rendering the content data and related meta dataand executing an application, said rendering device having controlledaccess to resources for supplying necessary information for therendering device to effect performance of predetermined renderingoperations; said computer program causing the processor to perform thesteps of: setting an access policy required to be adhered to by theorganization according to a predefined data access format, the accesspolicy comprising access parameters for controlling access by therendering device and to said necessary information; providing, inaccordance with an access policy actually adhered to by theorganization, content data and related meta data and an organizationapplication for manipulating the content data and related meta data,said access policy actually adhered to providing authorization for therendering device to said necessary information; regardless of whetherthe access policy actually adhered to by the organization complies withthe access policy required to be adhered to, setting a user accesspolicy for the rendering device that, while executing the organizationapplication, further restricts access by the rendering device to saidnecessary information relative to the access policy actually adhered tothe organization; and adjusting the user access policy, based on trustdata applicable to the organization, for selectively determining what,if any, of said necessary information will be made accessible to therendering device.
 8. A rendering device for rendering content data andrelated meta data for use in a content distribution system, the systemcomprising an organization for providing content data and related metadata; said system being arranged for: setting an access policy requiredto be adhered to by the organization according to a predefined dataaccess format, the access policy comprising access parameters forcontrolling access by the rendering device to necessary information forperforming predetermined rendering operations; providing, in accordancewith an access policy actually adhered to by the organization, contentdata and related meta data and an organization application formanipulating the content data and related meta data, said access policyactually adhered to providing authorization for the rendering device toaccess said necessary information; said rendering device furthercomprising an access control device for: regardless of whether theaccess policy actually adhered to by the organization complies with theaccess policy required to be adhered to, setting a user access policyfor the rendering device that further restricts access by the renderingdevice to said necessary information relative to the access policyactually adhered to by the organization; and adjusting the user accesspolicy, based on trust data applicable to the organization, forselectively determining what, if any, of said necessary information willbe made accessible to the rendering device.
 9. The rendering device asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the access control means: accesses a remotedatabase entity via a network, which entity is arranged for maintaininga set of trust data; and retrieves trust data from the set for theadjusting of the user access policy.
 10. A database entity for use in acontent distribution system comprising: an organization for providingcontent data and related meta data; and a rendering device for renderingthe content data and related meta data, said rendering device havingcontrolled access to resources for supplying necessary information forthe rendering device to effect performance of predetermined renderingoperations; the system being arranged for: setting an access policyrequired to be adhered to by the organization according to a predefineddata access format, the access policy comprising access parameters forcontrolling access by the rendering device to said necessaryinformation; providing, in accordance with an access policy actuallyadhered to by the organization, content data and related meta data andan organization application for manipulating the content data andrelated meta data, said access policy actually adhered to providingauthorization for the rendering device to access said necessaryinformation; regardless of whether the access policy actually adhered toby the organization complies with the access policy required to beadhered to, setting a user access policy for the rendering device that,while executing the organization application, further restricts accessby the rendering device to said necessary information relative to theaccess policy actually adhered to by the organization; and adjusting theuser access policy, based on trust data applicable to the organization,for selectively determining what, if any, of said necessary informationwill be made accessible to the rendering device; said database entitymaintaining said trust data.